So what is the CC of your electric car?

Ever wondered, what is the cubic capacity (CC) and the brake horsepower (bhp) of an electric car?

You must be thinking I must be high to have asked such a question. After all, electric cars have electrical motors which aren’t measured in cubic capacity and neither is their power measured in bhp.

However, if you live in Kolkata, this is the question you’re going to be asked by the Public Vehicles Department if you try and register your electric car! And if you can’t answer that (no one in their right mind can), well, then you can’t register your electric car in West Bengal!

Heck, even Kolkata Police has been thus far unable to register 5 of their electric cars and due to it, they can’t be run on the road!

At the receiving end of this strange red tapism is Mahindra e2o.

Poor chaps from Mahindra have even done the calculation to convert kWh rating of their little electric car to arrive at a bhp figure, in hopes of satisfying the Kolkata RTO. But to no avail!

Babus from Kolkata Public Vehicles Department are still adamant, they wouldn’t let electric cars get registered in Kolkata until they are told the cubic capacity of their electric engine!

This problem began when Kolkata PVD started using Vahan registration platform in January this year to register vehicles. Now since the “state of the art” Vahan registration platform needs cubic capacity as well as bhp rating of the vehicle to calculate tax, Kolkata PVD officials cannot proceed with vehicle registration!

Speaking to the media regarding this unique issue, Mahesh Babu, CEO, Mahindra Electric said, “The RTO of West Bengal has raised a unique technical requirement for registration of electric vehicles.This needs to be worked between the central government and certifying authorities. We are working on all fronts, including with the West Bengal RTO team, to clarify the specific and unique requirement. We hope to close this issue in the near future so that our customers can outsmart pollution.”

In the meanwhile, all those who thought about going green (including Kolkata Police) by purchasing electric cars have been left in a lurch for the past 5 months.

Frankly speaking, we feel Mahindra Electric would be better off measuring the size of e2o’s electric motor and then finding a petrol engine which is of similar size and then giving that petrol engine’s cubic capacity to Kolkata PVD. This way, we will finally get to know the cubic capacity of an electric engine and Kolkata Police can start patrolling in their electric cars!